Thinking - Higher form of learning

Reasoning is one of the cognitive abilities of the mind and it needs a lot of thinking. Here is a definition of the word reasoning.

It is a form of thinking step wise and one has to be highly conscious, directed, controlled, active, intentional, forward looking,  and oriented toward thoughts. You have to start with a problem and continue till the solution is found.           

Quality in IITs and IIMs

The comments of both the Environment and Human Resource Ministers are correct regarding the dwindling of quality in IITs and IIMs. It is true of all other higher Indian Educational Institutions.

The number one university in the world today is Harvard University and the professors working in it attributed their highest rank to their method of teaching and the continuous research culture which empower their students and help the university to get the top ranking position in the world.

Indian students have minds worth of mines of diamonds and their cognitive potential remains untapped and unused owing to the wrong methods of teaching of the faculty. Once an Indian scientist who had received Padhmashree award, said that Indians are Non-linear Thinkers and narrow-minded in nature.

Further the students don't know how to learn and how to think. They should realize that their minds are the best laboratories and try to put their thoughts in writing. They should learn to collect new ideas and train their minds to think in different ways. This practice would make them create new ideas and come out with their own new working models. These are the ways to create Research-Bent of Mind (RBM) and Innovative-Bent of Mind (IBM) among the students.

By meticulously following the above method, all Indian students can be made to think like great scientists.

This is the most urgent need of the hour to bring a reform in the Indian Education System to provide quality education.

Cognitive Abilities

. The cognitive functions are numerous and communication is one among them. The following are some of them:

• Thinking
• Reasoning
• Listening
• Speaking
• Reading
• Writing
• Imagination
• Creating new ideas
• Innovation
• Problem solving
• Memorizing
• Recalling
• Retrieving information from the mind
• Recognizing
• Reciting
• Inventing etc.

All these intrinsic abilities of students die out or never come out due to poor teaching of language as well as subjects.

The cognitive abilities of our students remain untapped and unused owing to the poor teaching of English. Language links brain and the subject and without the mastery of the language, learning of the subject would become very difficult. Students think that language is only for communication. They should understand that language has the power to activate the cognitive potential of students. The teachers should make the students think and train their minds to think and it is like the opening of a thousand eyes.

The Management of English

The management of English has become mandatory for management of excellence in management. It has emerged as the multi-trillion dollar language. It is the language of not only Nobel Laureates and Scientists but also the world’s top chief executives and the greatest entrepreneurs. It remains as the motivating and driving force behind the best business leaders. English and innovation are inseparable and it has links with entrepreneurship. Excellence in management can be obtained by quality control, quality assurance, Total Quality Management (TQM) and ISO certification. All these quality assurances depend on the following activities which are promoted by the excellent use of English. 1. Communication. 2. Advertisement 3.Training 4. Research 5. Promotion 6.Professional growth of employees. Hence all companies expect their employees to have excellent communication skills.

Three Impediments

The quality of Indian Education System heavily depends on the quality of the teachers. National Policy on Education (1986) observes that “No nation can rise above the level of its teachers”.

Now the educators have started talking about the existing quality of our Universities and the expected quality of the Multinational Companies (MNCS). The Present Educational System has to be completely revamped to achieve the expected quality in education.

The following three impediments block the progress of our education system.

1. The teachers not following the proper methods of teaching.

2. The students not knowing the auto-learning techniques.

3. No proper teaching and learning of the English Language.

MTBL - Memory techniques-based Learning

The learning style of students at higher education level should be based on memory techniques rather than blind memory. The students at higher education level should learn the various memory techniques. First they have to prepare the material and understand them. Then they have to choose the memory techniques suitable to take the materials to Long Term Memory (LTM). The forgetfulness occurs due to the wrong filing system in the brain. The retrieval cues will help the students to recall the materials easily.

Develop the Habit of Thinking

The language plays a vital role in learning. It is the mediator between the mind and the materials. Mind cannot function without language and the materials are also couched using language. Learning becomes easier by improving the study of language. Word power empowers students’ mind and thinking. It will lead to memory power and develop the habit of thinking. Thinking will make the students write and innovate. They can publish their innovative ideas and do experiments and this mental exercise will help them to find out some new inventions.

Better Learning

Brain is the greatest living machine generating new ideas. In olden times, people believed that learning is the pouring in of knowledge. Whereas modern educationists hold the view that education is the process of drawing out from the human brain what is already existing in it. School learning is blind memory-based rote learning. It should be changed into memory-technique based learning. Learning takes place through five senses. An integration of the five senses will ensure better learning.

Findings of Research

The findings of Research works undertaken by the universities must reach the common people. In India, the thesis of a scholar becomes the property of the individual. Most of the theses do not get printed and see the light of the day. The results of these researches do not help the practising teachers and students to improve their teaching and learning. The studies undertaken will help the research scholars and supervisors in may ways. They show the latest research trend and guide the research scholars.

Thinking and Creative Writing

Thinking and creative writing complement each other and are like twin brothers. They are inseparable habits. The mental faculty of students is immeasurable and it remains as untapped energies in their minds. The teachers should teach their students how to develop the habit of thinking which is the final goal of education. The students have to spend a lot of time in thinking and improve their power of writing by improving their language.

My Self Discovery

How to innovate?

Let me tell you about my own experience as an innovator. What did I do to innovate? Nobody taught me how to start to find something new which will be useful to others. I had created eagerness within me to learn and make notes by observing my teachers in college. I started collecting new ideas and went through them constantly. This practice gave me the strength to think independently and I started creating new ideas and put them in writing. Simultaneously I attended many national seminars, workshops and conferences and presented papers and discussed my ideas with others. I had the courage to go to great educational Institutions and gave guest lectures on various topics which are useful to teachers and students. This gave me a golden opportunity to learn a lot of new ideas from others. When I had the confidence I started publishing my ideas in small booklet forms.

From these adventures I have come to know that Oxford Education can be provided in any Institution in the world. This is my innovation and new finding which will be useful for any individual or Institution

Learning English

The difficulties of learning English are enormous and they can be overcome by continuous training and constant integrated study

The first difficuty for Indian learners is the mother tongue influence. The next obstacles arise due to wrong teaching metods and learning methods. The aspect of self-learning is totally absent among the learners. Further the learners don't know the future of the role of English in their lives. The most important thing is that they are poorly motivated.

Some Sayings about Thinking

Learn to think continuously

Learn to wield your mental powers

Self control is strength

Calmness is power

Listen, you gain; Speak you lose - Arabian Saying

An idea can change your life - A. Birla

Change your thoughts to change your life

Mind is a mine of diamonds - use it or lose it

Think and grow rich

Plant new ideas in your mind to grow

Learn to ask questions to improve your thinking ability

Learn Time Management

Improve your memory power

Get guidance from the resource persons

LISTENING - Sub-skills of Listening

LISTENING - Sub-skills of Listening

Silence

Active

Interest

Attention

Concentration

Note making

Repetition

Recall

Recite

Think

Late recognition:

Late recognition:

Gregor Mendel (1822-1884) was once invited to present his findings about his discoveries regarding the heredity of pea plants. After his lecture, Mendel expected his audience to share his inner excitement he had felt while conducting his experiment. At that moment a man from the audience whispered.

“Eight years spent in watching ordinary peas grow, what a waste of time!” It took sixteen years after his death realize the significance of what had discovered.

-A.N.Kothare

Meta-cognition for Innovation

Meta-cognition for Innovation

Cognitive abilities of students are immense and the teachers should activate them in the right way. Cognitive abilities vary from individual to individual and yet they are immense. The first step towards developing these mental faculties is to create awareness among the students about them. The power of mind is immeasurable and invaluable. Hence the students should know the value of it. They have acres of diamonds in their minds. In a life time a man has the power to store more than seven trillion informations in his mind. It is the best computer in the world, with the power to create new ideas.

When the students are taught to think in different ways, it is like the opening of a thousand eyes. “Innovative or die” is the latest slogan of the CEOs of major MNCS.

Present day students learn without thinking and memorize materials without understandings and forget them as quickly as possible. Self-learning speed learning and life-long learning should be taught to collect new ideas. For this purpose, they should go beyond their text books.

“Cognition” means the conscious mental processes.

It means the skill related to the use of mind in various activities like thinking, mental process, judgment, the power reasoning, communication, recall, generate new ideas, imagination, preserve or store the collected ideas in the form of knowledge and make use of them whenever necessary in life. In other words we call it as creativity, originality, innovation, invention etc. All learning depends on the use of cognitive abilities. The students should be cognizant of their latent mental faculties. They should not be branded as slow learners or poor learners. Only mental handicapped students are slow or poor in their cognitive powers.

The chief tool of mental faculty has been the language. Hence the sure method of activating cognitive abilities for innovation .The second one is the training of the mind is to think in different ways.

Wrong food habits, sleeplessness, ill health, bad habits etc., will affect the mental health. Forgetfulness and lethargy are the two greatest enemies of the brain affecting the power of cognition and innovation.

The higher order of learning is problem solving. The students should learn to think for a long time. There are different types of thinking like abstract thinking, linear thinking, lateral thinking, and multi-disciplinary thinking and inter disciplinary thinking. Constant and continuous training would help the students to activate their cognitive abilities leading to discovery, innovation and creativity.

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SOME MUST - READ BOOKS FOR TECHNICAL STUDENTS

SOME MUST - READ BOOKS FOR TECHNICAL STUDENTS

v Science and Scientists - A.N. kothare et.al.

v Acres of Diamonds - Russel H.Conwell

v Thinking - De Bono

v What is Creative Thinking? - Jaico Publishers

v Brain Storming – Jaico Publishers

v How to study - OUP

v Roget’s Thesaurus

v OALD – OUP

v Better Learning of Spoken English – Dr.S.Malaikkani

v Mind Control - De Silva

v Nations of the World - Aksheyaa Akilan

SOME MUST-READ BOOKS FOR TECHNICAL TEACHERS

SOME MUST-READ BOOKS FOR TECHNICAL TEACHERS

v Models of Teaching- by Bruce Joyce and Marsha Weil

v Roget’s Thesaurus

v Biographical Dictionary

v Technical English Dictionaries

v Books on Technical Writing

v “How to Study” by OUP

v “The Study Success code” – by B.K. Narayan and Preeti Narayanan

v The world of Internet by T. Saravanan

v Stories as an Effective Teaching learning tool- by P. Nachimuthu

v Empowering Teachers and students – by Dr.S. Malaikkani

v Perfect Public Speaking – by W.A. Whiteman

v Psychology of Teaching and Learning - by Dr. Kokila Thangasamy

v The Little Giant Book of School Jokes - by Charles Keller

Serendipity (N)

Serendipity (N)

What is serendipity?

It is faculty of making happy and unexpected discoveries by accident.

E.g. Galileo saw an oil-lamp swinging in the air above him. What he perceived was that the pendulum of the change was taking exactly the same time for every oscillation; although the length of the oscillations was constantly reducing. When he got home, Galileo worked out in detail the intricacies of this kind of motion. Today this finds application in the counting of the human pulse, solar eclipses, and the movement of stars.

- A.N.Kothare

TIPS FOR WRITING

TIPS FOR WRITING

Ingredients:

• A lot of ideas to be expressed in writing
• Relevant vocabulary items
• A great amount of motivation
• Some connectors
• Linguistic proficiency (syntax, grammar, etc.)
• Knowledge of Rhetoric (organization, stylistic devices, coherence, etc.)
• A stimulating topic
• Purpose of writing
• Awareness of the audience

Utensils

• Two or three blank sheets of paper
• A pen/pencil/micro-processor
• A dictionary\/ thesaurus (for voc. Error-prone)

Something to write on

A PC (original)

Procedure

• Leaven your ideas until they rise
• Shape them
• Mix them on a sheet of paper without worrying about taste
• Taste your mixture for meaning first and then for accuracy
• Then chop some of your mixture into clear and expressive small pieces
• Then add the required pinch of connectors where/if necessary
• After that slice the mixture into paragraphs; don’t worry if some slices are bigger than others
• And then sprinkle some punctuation symbols where needed (according to taste)
• Finally, if the piece is tasty enough, put it down on a clean sheet of paper and serve it to be appreciated
• Don’t forget to decorate it by leaving a margin and writing on every other line.

-Courtesy – Abdul Majid BOUZIANE, editor to ELTECS Africa and the Middle East Published in English Teaching Forum, Vol.32(2),1994:13

WEBSITES FOR TEACHERS

WEBSITES FOR TEACHERS

www.longman.com

This site contains model lesson plans in all subjects and worksheets.

www.wikipedia.com

This site is for all teachers and students with millions of articles. Anyone can write articles and upload them in this site.

www.nasscom.com

This is the site of national association of software companies. This site contains a number of innovative articles authored by grate CEOs.

www.projectgutenberg.com

This site contains more than one lakh free books in different languages. More than twenty thousand books are available for free downloading.

www.refdesk.com

This is a reference site for all teachers and students.

www.top.biography.com

The biographies of great men

Scholarship/Fellowship:

www.nifindia.org

National Innovation Foundation, India

www.cilt.org

Centre for innovative learning practices, UNESCO

www.fulbright-india.org

Fulbright Fellowships.com

WEBSITES FOR TECHNICAL STUDENTS

WEBSITES FOR TECHNICAL STUDENTS

www.iei.ie.com

www.oneworld.org

www.civilengineer.about.com

www.inventors.about.com

www.pbs.org

www.library.thinkquest.org

www.electronicswork-bench.com

www.brainpop.com

www.discoverengineering.org

www.new-sng.com

Research Bent of Mind (RBM)

Aristotle was the forerunner of the present day research and he collected data, created information out of it and produced a knowledge pool and tried to use it for the benefit of the mankind. He verified the collected data and brought out in book form and was the first scholar to author more books by his hard work.

After a long break, Francis Bacon taught the Technical students to

v Observe nature

v Collect data

v Form Hypotheses

v Analyze the data and interpret it

v form a conclusion and prove the hypotheses

Life Time Achievement (LTA)

A formula for your Life Time Achievement (LTA)

LTA = NM + TM + LTM + LLL.

NM = Note Making

TM = Time Management

LTM = Long Term Memory

LLL = Life Long Learning

A formula for success:

A= X+ Y +Z.

A = Success

X = Hard Work

Y = Play

Z = Rest

- Einstein

Formulas for Self-Learning

Think it over:

Learn the following formulas for Self-Learning:

v SQR3 – Survey, Question, Read, Recite, Review

v PQRST – Preview, Question, Read, Sum, Test

v MURDER – Mood Setting, Understanding, Recall, Digesting, Evaluate, Review

MOTIVATION

MOTIVATION

Rome wasn’t built in a day. Is it? I wasn’t in the job

- Reader’s Digest

v You have the ability to do anything

v Make effective use of your unlimited brain power.

Motivation has been acclaimed as the best asset of anyone. It is the power of the mind or soul. It can be defined as the power to work hard. There are two types of motivation, and they are external and internal. External motivation depends on the guidance, and counseling of parents, teachers, friends and relations. These external forces often fail to motivate the students, the internal motivation is the best and it should be kindled by the external motivating forces.

Internal motivation depends on the aim and ambition of the individual. It is like petrol or diesel to engine and it provides the students with hope, spirit, strength and fire to inspire themselves towards better learning. Psychologists had proved that “Motivated Learners learn better”

Motivation should always be self and continuous. The self motivation can be strengthened by high ambition, and life –time achievement. Quotations, sayings of great personalities, proverbs, and prayer will certainly empower their inner power.

Motivation especially, self-motivation has become a personality trait. The Biographies of great scientists would help all technical students to ignite their minds to achieve new goals. Former president Abdul Kalam’s biography “Wings of Fire” is the best example. Further the biographies of great scientists like Thomas Alva Edison, who had registered more than a thousand patents for his new innovations in his own life time is a wonderful example. Newton, Einstein and Faraday were all self-made men and excelled in their lifetime by their sheer hard work.

WORD POWER

WORD POWER

Word Power empowers students and they should know the true value of improving their vocabulary. Students at the college level should have a minimum of ten thousand words for their active use. It is surprising to know that in speaking English, not more than a hundred words are used daily by any speaker in the world. In all the language activities like Listening, Speaking, Reading and Writing (LSRW) not more than a thousand content words or meaningful words are used daily. All the other words are called passive words or words which are useful to understand messages and, these “Other words” are scarcely used words. Nevertheless they do the function of activating the cognitive abilities of students. Learn a few new words daily to enrich yourselves

QUOTES FOR QUOTING

. QUOTES FOR QUOTING

Quotations are the repeating of the words of authorities. The ‘Quotable Quotes’ of “The Reader’s Digest” magazine is world famous. Here are some quotations for students to quote and to change their mind and behavior

v Necessity is the mother of invention

v Innovate or stagnate

v Publish and flourish

v If you learn how to learn, you are ready to learn everything in the world.

v Better rote learning than no learning

v Education is for a sound mind in a sound body -Aristotle

v Those without a Knowledge of Maths should not enter my room -Plato

v Know thyself - Socrates

v Knowledge of all Knowledge is self Knowledge - Gita

v A Good teacher is worth a million Books- Macmillan

v Veni, Vidi, Vici- Came; Saw; Conquered –Julius Caesar

v Put your thoughts in writing- T.V.Subha Rao

v Learning without thinking is Labour lost – Confucius

v There is no relationship between students’ learning and thinking

- A recent American research finding

· The clothes that make a woman break a man.

To Foster Innovation

The great living legends speak about innovation:

Encourage lateral thinking - Ravichandran

Encourage Experimentation - V. Lakshminarasimhan, U.S

Welcome new ideas - R. Champakalakshmi

Inspire people to do things differently - k. Subramaniam, Bangalore

Encourage out of the box thinking - David Appasamy

Thanks to: The Hindu Businessline

Be aware of your Cognitive Abilities

The first and foremost duty of any teacher is to make the students aware of their cognitive abilities. The next step is to help them think scientifically and train their minds to think using the skills of serendipity and brainstorming techniques. When the teachers achieve this, it is like the opening of a thousand eyes of their students.

Olympic and Nobel prizes are elusive for Indians, because we are non-linear thinkers and our aims are not future-oriented. When our students begin to learn how to learn, how to think, how to train their minds to think and how to utilize their learning in their lives, they will start using their cognitive potential fully well. Hence to achieve world class education what we need today is change of mind.

Thinking and Writing

Thinking and writing are inseparable like twins and the students should cultivate the habit of putting their thoughts in writing. Mere writing without publication is of no use and it will not reach others. Hence I exhort the students’ community to make use of the golden opportunity to get their articles published in the e- zine.

The Hindu's report of a new innovation

If you want to become an innovator collect details of the latest innovation: Here is an example

A Revolutionary PaperPhone:

Canadian Scientists have developed what they say is the world's first interactive paper phone as thin and flexible as a credit card, which is set to herald a new generation of computers. Extremely light weight and made of a thin film; the prototype device can do everything a smart phone currently does; from making calls to playing music to sharing books.Its inventor -Roel Vertegall

Thanks to The Hindu, 07/05/2011

Innovator's Strategies

• Motivate yourself
• Become a Life-long learner
• Collect new ideas
• Learn to think in a different way
• Learn to Brainstorm to get new ideas
• Become a Linear thinker
• Learn to create new ideas
• Put your thoughts in writing
• Learn the biographies of great scientists
• Learn the latest trend in innovation
• Study two more subjects other than your own subject
• Learn to coin new words in English
• Master English
• Read Quality Books
• Make notes for long use
• Visit second hand bookstalls often
• Have a small library
• Have a small Laboratory
• Indulge in group Discussion
• Write articles to papers or journals
• Present papers in seminars, and conferences
• Practice inter-disciplinary and multi-disciplinary thinking

In His Will is our Peace - Dante

Innovatorsblogspotcom is a new Blog and it is dedicated to all students, teachers, trainers and those who are interested to innovate something new in their lives. I was a slow learner but yet I have become a great innovator in the field of Education. From my own experience I have found out that anyone having a normal thinking brain can become an innovator.

What is innovation?

To put in simple words: It is to find out something new useful for the society

Innovation means: innovative (IN OH vay tiv) adj. 1. the act or process of finding new methods;

2. a new method, custom, device, etc.

• Luther Burbank was an innovative person who bred many new varieties of

fruits, vegetables, and flowers.

Synonyms: original, novel, fresh, unusual, experimental, inventive, ingenious, pioneering, groundbreaking, revolutionary, radical